It had been two months since Rachel had moved to Paris, and Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe were all somewhat nervous about how Ross was taking it. (Mike, by contrast, was largely oblivious). As promised, Rachel visited New York every three weeks and brought Emma along. Ross would take care of his daughter for a couple of days, and on the surface everything seemed to be fine. When anyone asked him how he was taking it, he would say that this was the sort of thing one should expect, that he was fine about everything. And he certainly did not seem that he was about to burst into tears or get drunk. In the first few days after Rachel had left Chandler had feared, somewhat ungraciously he admitted, that Ross would hang around him and Monica all the time, or with Phoebe or Joey. But that didn't happen at all. It wasn't as if Ross was living a cloistered life. But he did seem to be doing a lot more paleontology work and instead of meeting Phoebe or Joey on a daily basis, it would be more like every two days, or every three days. He seemed to be calm, though Monica noticed that when they were together he rarely talked, and when he did he confined himself to comments as "I see," "Oh, that's interesting," or "Yes." He was quieter, he agreed with the others more often, he never talked about his paleontology work ("You don't want to know about that," which was true, they didn't, or "It's actually a very complex question of systematics. You'd find it very boring and technical.")

And now Joey was moving to his sister in Hollywood. Monica winced in her nervousness about that. Rachel across the ocean, Joey on the other side of the continent, she and Chandler busy with her new twins, and Ross and Mike not really interested in each other's company: how was Ross going to go on without any of his friends? As it happened Rachel was arriving for another visit and the seven of them (Mike was there, but Emma was with her maternal grandmother) were going out to dinner for Joey's farewell. As they all sat down at their table, there was a certain unease. Ross sat opposite from Rachel, between Joey and Phoebe. It seemed Ross was about to say something, but in fact he said nothing. Then it appeared that Rachel might talk, but then she didn't. So Monica took charge by reminding Joey of his checklist of things he had to do. This took a good twenty minutes, and Joey was grateful for every second. They also had to order food and they talked about politics. That didn't go quite so well, since Ross never said anything more than "People think that might happen," "It's quite possible," and "Some people think that." And then Phoebe asked about Paris. Was everything going well?

Actually things had been going well the last two times she had been here. She had a beautiful apartment, and while much of Paris had been defaced by philistine new construction and much of the population lived in unpleasant suburbs, her apartment was in a wonderful part of Paris. Her employers were not only polite to the American whose French was quite imperfect, they also didn't condescend to her, genuinely appreciated her contributions and were in fact quite intelligent, witty, cultured and kind. But today there was more.

"Actually, I've met someone," she said. Another American, from New York.

"Is it serious?" blurted Phoebe tactlessly.

"Yes," said Rachel. "It is kind of serious." But then her cell phone rang and she had to leave the table to talk about it. Ross was silent, and four others wondered what to do next, but then Chandler said that he knew Rachel's new boyfriend.

"Really?" asked Ross.

"Yes, I met him back at my old company. And I met him a couple of times at my advertising agency."

"What's he like?"

"Well, on the few occasions I met him, he actually reminded me most of you. He has many of your qualities."

"So Rachel is dating someone who looks like Ross?" asked Joey.

"Oh no, physically he looks very different from Ross. He's much more handsome." Monica glared at him. "I mean he's more conventionally handsome. Sort of like Russell Crowe, or Johnny Depp, or Orlando Bloom."

"Those three don't really look alike," said Monica.

"I know, but he combines all of their best qualities."

"So is he some kind of scientist?" asked Joey.

"Oh no, not at all. He's involved in movie production. Some position that makes him very wealthy."

Monica winced, and flashed a look saying that she could have easily killed her husband right now, but Ross didn't say anything. "Gee," said Phoebe, "you'd think a guy like that would already be married."

"Oh, no, he's a widower. His wife died from the consequences of a traffic accident three years ago. It's actually striking how kind he was during that very trying time, how generous and thoughtful he was."

But now Rachel came back to the table. And the seven started with the dinner, and as the meal wore on they learned indirectly that Alexander, for that was his name, had all sorts of virtues, that he was exceptionally kind and tender, though he was also wonderfully romantic and passionate, that he was wonderful around Emma, and was generally excellent around children. Clearly, Rachel hadn't been this happy in years. Again, Rachel had to get up to talk on her cell phone and Phoebe tried to comfort Ross. But Ross brushed it aside. "No, it's a good thing that this is happening. She's in a new country, she's in a very different country, and she needs new friends."

"Umm, Ross, they're more than friends. I mean, I don't sleep with my friends."

"Yes. Well. I mean. You see, after Emma was conceived she didn't sleep with anyone for nearly three years. I mean that's a very long time for most people. I mean it's a long time for Republicans. You can't expect her to be celibate forever. And during that time I slept with both Mona and Charlie. So I certainly have no right to complain."

And so the farewell dinner continued, and the topic turned to other subjects, and the pall over the evening more or less went away, except when they noticed that Ross wasn't really contributing much to the conversation. But as the meal came to a close Joey took Ross aside. "Look, this can't be easy for you."

"Well, thank you Joey. I appreciate your sympathy."

"No really Ross. Look, you two should have been together. And instead of helping you, I just made things worse. Telling her that I was in love with her, accidentally proposing to her, going on dates with her. I mean, if anything I did prevented the two of you from being together, I couldn't live with myself."

Ross sighed. "Joey. Look. I know you didn't mean to hurt me. I know you only acted because you thought I wasn't going to be there for her. It's not as if Rachel was my wife. It's not as if she was even my girlfriend. She's not my property, so it's not as if you poached her. Everything you did, you did for the best of reasons."

"So we're cool then?"

Ross was about to speak. But then he stopped. The other five noticed the silence when he spoke again. "No. No we're not."

Next Chapter Follows